In its eagerness to provide more Central funding for large irrigation projects, the government is overlooking an important fact - that the proposed mechanism for this funding has been severely indicted for corruption by the CAG. Himanshu Upadhyaya offers a few examples.

Is Vedanta's proposed alumina refinery dependent on mining in protected forest lands? The company kept the two apart in its first proposals, but now, having proceeded on one front without the necessary clearances for the other, claims it may incur significant losses if the Supreme Court blocks its plans. Kanchi Kohli reports.

Rs.500 crores of Orissa's funds for rural employment guarantees for 2006-7 appear to have been siphoned off by the state bureaucracy. This money would have brought 10 lakh poorest families two subsistence meals for four-six months, at a time of hunger and starvation deaths. Parshuram Rai has more.

Resistance to large projects is founded on many fears and objections. Key among them is loss of access to water. Without proper consideration of the water impacts of development plans, public acceptance of these projects will remain elusive, writes Shripad Dharmadhikary.

Ganjam has been a high-migration district from British times. For two decades, the bulk of its labour force has gone to Surat, but that is changing now, writes P Sainath.

As in many other struggles around the country, in Kalinganagar too there are fractures within the opposition to the proposed industrial plants, and families are torn apart by bleak choices. Freny Manecksha reports.

The battle between Sterlite Industries and tribal communities over mining in the Niyamgiri hills may not be just over yet, but the most recent Supreme Court judgment empowering the gram sabha has come as a temporary reprieve for the people. Kanchi Kohli reports.

Their shelters and livelihoods ravaged by the deadly recent cyclone, many women along Odisha's coastline are are so bereft of any hope for the future that they feel it would have been better to be among the dead. Sarada Lahangir meets some of them.

With numerous court cases, regulatory rulings and pending environmental clearances behind it, the South Korean steel major POSCO still persists with its plans in India. Kanchi Kohli looks at the latest in the case and wonders why.

Abhijit Mohanty brings us the story of certain tribal villages in Koraput district of southern Odisha that have successfully overcome the challenges posed by denudation and inadequate irrigation and have etched out a path towards food security and well-being.

Himanshu Upadhyaya examines a CAG audit report to point out the blatant non-compliance of environmental laws largely by the Forest officials.

If you decide that 75 per cent of the country does not make news, you're shrinking your potential zone of coverage. And if you decree that only a small section of the other 25 per cent does, you've painted yourself into a corner. P Sainath finds the deluge of trivia in the media decidedly not funny.

Event-driven media perpetuates the hostility that marks relations between India and Pakistan, says Kalpana Sharma.

Among military planners, it is common to devise war games to counter any nuclear attack by enemy states. The theories put forward in such games, however, are not always grounded in reality. The peace community should alertly challenge such thinking, says Firdaus Ahmed.

That Ex Sanghe Shakti concluded in the plains of Punjab without much ado indicates the determination of both India and Pakistan to keep temperatures below the now usual levels of the summer campaign in Kashmir. However, this positive should not cloud the questionable premises of Ex Sanghe Shakti, writes Firdaus Ahmed.

The United Stated-led Global War on Terror is all set to come up to India's doorstep this summer, with Pakistan's move from being a 'frontline state' to becoming a theatre of war. For India, a reflexive anti-Pakistani stance or a fashionable pro-American one are not the only choices, writes Firdaus Ahmed.

A conference on nuclear disarmament and peace reminds us of the world's forgotten commitment to disarmament. Speakers at the event also debunked a number of claims that governments usually make in support of their militaristic and geo-political objectives. Aparna Pallavi reports.

The struggle to wrest back interpretations of Islam from the extremists could give security a boost, but more importantly, it could halt the marginalisation and ghettoisation of Muslims in India, writes Firdaus Ahmed.

There has been a massive erosion in public confidence in our criminal justice system. There have been numerous commissions set up to suggest improvements, but nothing much has come of these, writes C V Madhukar.

A future government that is without the check of a strong opposition could strike out on a course that is markedly divergent from India's past record of abstinence from geo-political conflicts, writes Firdaus Ahmed.

When malnutrition among children is widespread, the government is slashing funds allocated to the mid day meal scheme that covers most of the vulnerable children. Questioning this approach of the government, E S Ramamurthy started a petition to raise the funding for mid-day meal scheme to cover minimum nutritional needs of a child.

Widely labelled as the first of its kind, the Intensive Family Survey conducted in Telangana on 19 August gave rise to a range of speculations, and predictably drew its share of brickbats and bouquets. Venugopalrao Nellutla seeks to decipher the real motives and usefulness of the survey.

Telangana’s free registration of plain paper land sale initiative to digitally clean up its land records not only benefits its dispossessed farmers but makes land governance transparent, reports Manipadma Jena.

Rajasthan is getting ready for a mass installation of fluoride filters on water handpumps in over 23000 villages. The state's drinking water has dangerously high fluoride levels. But the government's reliance on pumps may cause more harm than good, asserts Deepak Malik.

At an international forum earlier this month, government claims of progress on providing water and sanitation were challenged by a number of NGOs. Darryl D'Monte reports.

India needs a strong public health system, but our direction is the opposite. Public spending on health is a mere 0.9% of GDP, and medical care is now the second most common cause of rural family debt. Public ill health, private profit - that's the partnership we are forging, writes P Sainath.

Vultures are nature's scavengers and their effectiveness in disposing off dead cattle has been a critical public health safeguard in India. But with the sub-continent losing 95% of its vulture population in just 15 years, scientists and conservationists have been scrambling to understand why, and propose remedies. Darryl D'Monte has more.

If public health systems are failing on account of certain causes, the solution should lie in fixing them. However, it appears instead that the state seems to be looking for an escape route from the problems of its own inefficiencies, says C V Madhukar.

From the time of the PM’s commitment to a ‘Swachh Bharat’ in August 2014, what has changed in the WASH sector in India? Himanshu Upadhyaya shares notes taken as a delegate at the recent India WASH Summit in the capital.

Only strategic moves arising from paradigm shifts can bring about purposeful movement away from illusions of ‘normalcy’, says Firdaus Ahmed.

When does one stop being a migrant and become just one of the residents? Dilip D'Souza finds that the answer can be quite different, depending on who is giving it: the not-so-new arrivals themselves, or the original inhabitants. But it is the offical view that is most troubling, for it shows how much the migrants' lot is hostage to high office.

In the 'village of widows' near the Line of Control, women had become accustomed to living off aid and alms. But in 2001, a group of women, part of Athwaas, decided to try to make things better, and something that was impossible to contemplate even six years ago, has now happened. Ashima Kaul reports.

The flash flood has brought devastation, and also a warning to Ladakhis not to build indiscriminately, ignoring earlier generations' knowledge about where water was known to flow, writes Dilip D'Souza.

A single parent also caring for her own aged mother, Hanifa Wani died after months of lying paralysed from a spinal injury - the result of security forces firing on her as she fled in panic. Freny Manecksha reports on a family's suffering amidst the violence around them.

Amidst a culture of silence and media inattention, torture is easy to find in the security hot zones of India. A new film bares the ugly truth. Freny Manecksha reports.

Forced, politicised moves to spread the message of peace and love through high profile cultural events may fall flat on the ground in Kashmir, but the Valley is certainly witnessing newer, creative and artistic modes of resistance against issues of concern. Freny Maneksha reports.

The Munshi Aziz Bhat Museum of Central Asian & Kargil Trade reconstructs the vibrant past of trade along the historic Silk Route and preserves its rich legacy. Freny Manecksha visits the museum and finds there's more to Kargil than Indo-Pak conflict.

For women living along the conflict-ridden borders of Kashmir, caught between cross fire and attempts to check infiltration, the threat of landmines is a constant reality, made worse now by environmental degradation. Chetna Verma’s tales expose their rising vulnerability.

A female police inspector from J&K, deployed in a peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan, has recently won a prestigious international award. Yet, her story holds little meaning for fellow women officers back home who fight social stigma, poor pay and gender bias at work every day. Shazia Yousuf reports.

The RTI-on-Wheels, an initiative of Gujarat-based organisation Janpath and the Association for India's Development, has inspired the people of J&K to press for their right to information and to a government that works for them. L S Aravinda reports.

Jhum, a traditional form of shifting cultivation common in the North-East, was the focus of a recent international meeting in Guwahati. But dilution of the original practice has impacted the ecosystem in some areas. Should jhum persist or perish? Surekha Sule has more.

For scores of students in Assam's primary schools, cooked food served in school under the Midday Meal Scheme is an attraction. Headmasters vouch for its impact in increasing attendance, but point to several challenges in making the scheme work statewide. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports.

With large parts of the state experiencing regular conflict between insurgents and security forces, and also between various ethnic groups, children in Assam, many of them forced into relief camps, face the risk of losing all access to education. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports.

On the streets in Guwahati, there are thousands of children outside the reach of the normal schooling system. Many have run away from their homes, and most must work to make ends meet. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports on the challenges of bringing them into the mainstream.

Dramatic erosion of embankments, and continuous siltation threaten to wipe away a large island settlement on the Brahmaputra. Residents unhappy with the government's efforts to stem the erosion are now hoping the island's heritage and ecology will attract more attention. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports.

The struggle of Adivasis in Assam is more or less unique. It is the only state in India where, post Independence, adivasis were given Other Backward Class (OBC) status instead of Scheduled Tribe (ST). Sriram Ananthanarayanan says this, and their struggle, warrants an examination.

Shifting cultivation in the Northeast, called jhum, is under stress because of conflicts and industrialisation. Sriram Ananthanarayanan examines how the cycle of jhum cultivation is getting adversely affected, causing immense hardship to the people dependent on it.

Murders and other violent crimes are on the rise in Assam, as superstitious belief in witches provides cover for such actions. Both state and society have much more to do, writes Ratna Bharali Talukdar.

A livelihoods programme for villages on the fringes of Kaziranga National Park makes big gains in the fight against poaching, and also recognises the importance of locals as stakeholders in wildlife conservation. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports.

Despite years of conflicts and lakhs of people being housed in relief camps, the Assam government is yet to develop a practical policy of responding to the recurring crises. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports.